Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, has dreams for his city to be recognized as a leader in the promotion of green vehicles in Europe. A scheme he has in mind closely resembles bike-for-hire programs, except instead of a bicycle, people would be renting electric cars. Johnson has reportedly based the idea on Paris' "Autolib" car-rental program which places 4,000 electric cars throughout the French capital. While Autolib is set to begin operations by the end of the year, London's program is yet to take form.

A huge roadblock in the scheme is the fact that London does not have enough charging points to support thousands of electric vehicles daily. New charging points would cost around $4,500 each so the main concerns for funding extends beyond the price of the cars themselves. Nevertheless, UK's Energy Saving Trust believes the scheme is viable, even calling is "a great way for people to test the technology." Besides this electric vehicle scheme, Mr. Johnson also has plans to make 6,000 bicycles available for hire to the public by next year for short distance travel.